Jack The Ripper

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION/PRIVACY ACTS SECTION

COVER SHEET

SUBJECT: Jack The Ripp er

July 6, 1988

UNSUB; AKA JACK THE RIPPER;
SERIES OF HOMICIDES
LONDON, ENGLAND
1888

NCAVC - HOMICIDE (CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE ANl^YSIS)

The following criminal investigative analysis was
prepared by Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) John E. Douglas, FBI
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) ,
Program Manager of Criminal Investigative Analysis. At the
request of Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, SSA Douglas was requested
to prepare an analysis of a 100-year-old, unsolved serial murder
case that occurred in England. This historical case was known as
"Jack the Ripper. "

SSA Douglas was provided basic backgroiind information
relative to each case; however, it is noted that forensic
technology and other investigative techniques, as we know of
today, were nonexistent a century ago. Medical examiners'
reports were incomplete, crime scene photography was used
sparingly, and police investigative reports do not reflect the
type of thoroughness evidenced today.

When a case is submitted for investigative analysis,
the reliability and validity of the overall analysis is hinged on
the thoroughness displayed by the medical examiners, technicians,
investigators, etc. Although materials provided were not as
complete as cases sxibmitted today by much more sophisticated law
enforcement agencies, SSA Douglas filled in the missing pieces of
information by making certain probsQsle assvimptions .

This analysis will address the following areas:
Victimology or profile of victims; medical examiner's findings;
crime and crime scene analysis; offender traits and
characteristics; pre- and post-offense behavioral patterns;
investigative and/or proactive techniques; and interview/
interrogation suggestions.

Rather than address each homicide separately,
SSA Douglas' comments will relate to the entire series of
homicides as a whole.

VICTIMOLOGY

In each homicide, the victim V7as a prostitute with a
reputation of drinking quite heavily. These two ingredients
place the victim in a "high risk" category. By "high risk, " we
define this as someone who is very likely to be the victim of
violent crime. From an investigative perspective, this makes it
extremely difficult in reference to developing logical suspects.
From a forensic viewpoint, if any evidence is obtained such as
hairs and fibers, semen, etc. , law enforcement would not know for
certain if this evidence did in fact come from the subject.

One hundred years ago, prostitution was not as
organized as it is today, where we have pimps controlling,
monitoring, and protecting their stables. During the "Jack the
Ripper" era, women worked independently. A female prostitute who
drank heavily was looking for trouble. We would suspect that
there were numerous instances of these women being physically
assaulted, raped, and ripped off.

Prostitutes 100 years ago did not dress differently
than other women at that time. In most cases, they performed
their "services" in dark alleys or in "flop" houses. The
prostitutes targeted by Jack the Ripper were nearly twice the age
of prostitutes soliciting today. They were not particularly
attractive and other than their age, there were no striking
similarities between them. (It is noted that the last victim was
25.)

The "Jack the Ripper" victims were targeted because
they were readily accessible. Jack the Ripper did not have to
initiate the contact. This was done for him by the prostitute.
This is an important feature in a case such as this and will be
addressed later on in this analysis under "Offender Traits and
Characteristics . "

MEDICAL EXAMINATION

As stated earlier, the medical examinations conducted
at that time were not very thorough when compared to autopsy
examinations conducted today by experienced forensic
pathologists. However, even in some parts of the United States
today, autopsy examinations are something less than desired.

The primary areas noted in this analysis were as

follows:

1. No evidence of sexual assault.

2. Subject killed victims swiftly.

3. Subject was able to maintain control of
victims during the initial "blitz style"
of attack.

4. Sub:ject removed body organs (i.e., kidney,
vagina, nose) on some of the victims, indicating
some anatomical knowledge.

5. No evidence of physical torture prior to death.

6. Postmortem mutilation.

7. Possible meuiual strangulation.

8. Blood from victims was concentrated in small
areas.

9. Rings were taken from one of the victims.

10. The last victim was killed indoors and was the
most mutilated. Subject spent a considerable
amount of time at the scene.

11. Time of death was in the early morning hours.

The above-listed autopsy findings will contribute to
the overall offender analysis that will be addressed later on in
this report.

CRIME AND CRIME SCENE ANALYSIS

With the exception of the last case, all victims were
killed outdoors. All victims were killed swiftly, with the
victims consequently receiving postmortem mutilation. All
homicides occurred within one-fourth of a mile from each other
and occurred either on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday during early
morning hours. After the first homicide at Whitechapel Station,
the subject moved slightly across town (one-fourth of a mile) .
If a line is drawn from crime scenes 2, 3, 4, and 5, a triangular
configuration is formed. This is observed in other types of
serial crimes. This triangular configuration is viewed as a
secondary comfort zone for the Ripper, This movement is caused
when a subject believes that the investigation is heating up in
his primary comfort zone. The primary comfort zone would be the
location of the first homicide in the vicinity of Whitechapel
Station. It is the opinion of this crime analyst that there were
other attacks in the Whitechapel area that either went unreported
or for some reason were not considered by authorities to be
crimes of Jack the Ripper.

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Some criminologists and behavioral scientists have
written in the past that sxibjects will maintain their modus
operandi and that is what links so-called "signature crimes."
This conclusion is incorrect. A subject will change his modus
operandi as he gains additional experience. This is learned
behavior. However, the personal desires and needs of the subject
are expressed in the ritual aspect of a crime. The ritual is
something that he must always do because it is the acting out of
the fantasy. With Jack the Ripper, the target selection, the
approach, the method of his initial attack, are his modus
operandi. What takes place after this is the ritual. The ritual
may become more elaborate as - was in the last homicide case.
Here, the Ripper had time to act out his fantasies. As
investigators, we should not necessarily expect the same type of
homicides in the future, particularly if subsequent victims are
killed outdoors. Once again, he would not have the time to carry
out all of his fantasies and consequently mutilation will not be
as advanced.

COMMDNIOIT Pg AT.T.T:r;T! DLY RECEIVED FROM THE RIPPER

Another aspect of this case worth mentioning was the
conmiuniques allegedly received from Jack the Ripper. It is quite
rare when a serial murderer of this type communicates with
police, media, family, etc. When they do communicate, they
generally provide specifics relative to the crime that only are
known by the subject. In addition, they generally provide
information relative to their motivation for committing such a
heinous crime. It is my opinion that this series of homicides
was not perpetrated by someone who set up a challenge against law
enforcement. While the killer knew he would be receiving
national as well as international publicity, this was not his
primary motivation.

In summary, I would not put emphasis on the commxaniques
during this investigation. However, I would develop an
investigative technique with the goal in mind to identify the
author of the communiques.

OFFENDER TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS

These homicides are referred to as Lust Murders. Roy
Hazelwood and I wrote an article several years ago which appeared
in the FBI^s Law Enforcement Bulletin . The word "lust" does nor
mean love or have any sexual meaning, other than the fact that
the subject attacks the genital areas of his victims. The
vaginal area and breasts are the focal point of attack in a woman
and the penis and scrotum are the attack area of the male
offender. Generally, males who are attacked in this fashion are
victims that were involved in a homosexual relationship.

4

.':.-VWi:rT.-^.-

I have never experienced a female serial lust murderer
either in research or in cases received at the NCAVC. It is for
this reason that Jack the Ripper was a male. He was of white
race in view of the fact that white was the predominant race at
the crime scene locations, and generally crimes such as these are
intraracial.

The age of onset for these types of homicides is
generally between the mid to late 20 's. Based upon the high
degree of psychopathology exhibited at the scene, the ability of
the subject to converse with the victim until a suitable location
is found, and the ability to • avoid detection, places him between
the age bracket of 28 to 36 years of age. However, it should be
noted that age is a difficult characteristic to categorize and
consequently we would not eliminate a viable suspect exclusively
because of age.

This offender does not look out of the ordinary.
However, the clothing he wears at the time of the assaults is not
his everyday dress. He wants to project to \insuspecting females
(prostitutes) that he has money; consequently this relieves him
from initiating contact.

He comes from a family where he was raised by a
domineering mother and weak, passive and/or absent father. In

all likelihood, his mother drank heavily and enjoyed the company
of many men. As a result, he failed to receive consistent care
and contact with stable adult role models. Consequently, he
became detached socially and developed a diminished emotional
response towards his fellow man. He became asocial, preferring
to be alone. His anger became internalized and in his younger
years, he expressed his pent-up destructive emotions by setting
fires and torturing small animals. By perpetrating these acts,
he discovered increased areas of dominance, power and control,
and learned how to continue violent destructive acts without
detection or punishment.

As he grew older, his fantasy developed a strong
component that included domination, cruelty, and mutilation of
women. We would expect to find evidence of this violent
destructive fantasy life through personal writings of his as well
as drawings of women being mutilated.

For employment, he would seek a position where he could
work alone and vicariously experience his destructive fantasies.
Such employment would include work as a butcher, mortician's
helper, medical examiner's assistant, or hospital attendant. He
is employed Monday through Friday and on Friday night, Saturday,
and Sunday is off from work. He has carried a knife for defense
purposes — just in case he was ever attacked, he would be ready.

This paranoid-type of thinking is in part justified because of
the poor self-image he has of himself. He would be expected to
have some type of physical abnormality. However, although not
severe, he perceives this as being psychologically crippling. We
would look for someone below or above average in height and/or
weight. May have problems with speech, scarred complexion,
physical illness, or injury.

We would not expect this type of offender to be
married. If he was married in the past, it would have been to
someone older than himself and the marriage would have been for a
short duration.

He is not adept in meeting people socially and the
major extent of his heterosexual relationships would be with
prostitutes. Due to lack of hygiene practices by prostitutes at
that time and the absence of treatment for venereal disease, he
may have been infected. If infected, this would further fuel his
hatred and disgust for women.

He would be perceived as being quiet, a loner, shy,
slightly withdrawn, obedient, and neat and orderly in appearance
and when working. He drinks in the local pubs and after a few
spirits, he becomes more relaxed and finds it easier to engage in
conversation. He lives or works in the Whitechapel area. The
first homicide should be in close proximity to either his home or
workplace. It is noted that London Hospital is only one block
from the first homicide and as stated earlier in this analysis,
we would esqject other violent crimes in this vicinity.

Investigators would have interviewed him during the
course of the investigation and he was probably talked to by
police on several occasions. Unfortunately at this time, there
was no way to correlate this type of information? therefore, he
was overlooked. Investigators and citizens in the coitmunity had
a preconceived idea or picture of what Jack the Ripper would look
like. Because of the belief that he would appear odd or ghoulish
in appearance, he was overlooked and/ or eliminated as a potential
suspect.

PRE- AND POST-OFFENSE BEHAVIOR

Prior to each homicide, the subject was in a local pub
drinking spirits, while at the same time lowering his
inhibitions. He would be observed walking all over the
Whitechapel area during the early evening hours. He did not
specifically seek a certain look in a woman; however, it was by
no accident that he killed prostitutes. He had the sense to know
when and where to attack his victims. There would have been many

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other women who confronted Jack the Ripper and were not assaulted
because the location was not secure enough.

Post-offense behavior would include returning to an
area where he could wash his hands of blood and remove his
clothing. We would not expect him to inject himself into the
police investigation or provide bogus information.

Jack the Ripper hunted nightly for his victims. VJhen
he could not find another, he returned to the locations where he
killed his previous victims. If the victims were buried locally,
he would visit the gravesites of his victims during the early
morning hours for the purpose of reliving his lust murders.

Jack the Ripper would not have committed suicide after
the last homicide. Generally, when crimes such as these cease,
it is because he came close to being identified, was interviewed
by police, or was arrested for some other type of offense. As
stated previously in this report, we would be surprised if Jack
the Ripper would suddenly stop. However, we've seen this happen
before and generally it has been because of the above-stated
reasons.

INVESTIGATIVE AND/OR PROSECUTIVE TECHNIQUES

Jack the Ripper would be best suited to be interviewed
during the early morning hours. He would feel more relaxed and
secure to confess to the homicides. He would feel more relaxed
to express himself by writing about his motivation for killing
the women. He would not be visibly shaken or upset if directly
accused of the homicides. However, he would be psychologically
and physiologically stressed if confronted with the fact that he
became personally soiled by the victims' blood. Jack the Ripper
believed the homicides were justified and he was only removing
perishable items — who were like garbage.

This analysis was prepared for the exclusive use of
Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, Inc. Any reproduction or use of
this analysis for pviblication must have the written consent of
SSA John E. Douglas.